The Adventures of Joe Sceptile: Missing Meloetta
by DeGraphics Literature
Summary: When the Pop star Meloetta gets kidnapped, it's up to Private Eye Joe Sceptile to crack the case. But he is not alone, as he is joined by a young new resident named Max Marshtomp. Might become T in future.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

My name is Joe Sceptile, private eye detective. I live at 1600 Grovyle Street in Torch City, a town entirely inhabited by Pokémon in the Kalos Region. Like I said before, I'm a private eye, you wouldn't believe how much crime happens in this city, so it's up to me, and the TCPD to bring them to justice. My apartment is also my office where I work, and I work alone. I used to that is.

It was 12:03 PM and I was on my way to The Eevee Sisters Café for lunch, it's the best restaurant in town, in my opinion that is. It was then I bumped into some Marshtomp who wasn't looking where he was going. Things would have gone ugly if he wasn't a kid.

"I'm so sorry Mister," the kid said picking up the books and papers he was carrying.

"It's fine," I said, " just look where you're going next time." I helped him pick up his thing and noticed he had a copy on 'Houndoom of Baskerville,' a popular human mystery book. I wondered what he was doing with it. Before I could ask, he snatched it out of my paw and ran off. It was a little weird how the kid just stormed off like that, but it was probably nothing so I got back on my feet and continued on my way to the café.

I kept thinking of that kid on the way there. I kept asking myself, "how did he get that book. The only way to get it is from a bookstore or library in a human town, and last I checked, humans don't really accept money from Pokémon. It was definitely bought; it didn't have a barcode that libraries use and it looked like it was read a lot. His trainer must've bought it and gave it to him to remember him bye before he came here. That's the most logical answer, he could've also stolen it but he doesn't seem like the criminal type. After making my deduction, I was only a block away from the café.

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><p>I arrived at he café at 12:06 PM and seated myself at my usual spot, a small table in the corner closest to the building with a green and red umbrella. I always chose this spot because it was just far enough away from the sidewalk so no one could see or hear me going over cases. My waitress Sylveon came to take my order.<p>

"Welcome back Joe," she said, "I deduce you will be wanting the usual." She always used that joke whenever I came to eat here, the reason why was because of my job as a private eye.

"Guilty as charged," I joked back. She nodded and wrote down my order and went back into the café, she came out ten minutes prior with my food and drink, an Occa Berry Coffee and a crescent glazed with Pecha Berry icing.

As I took a bite of my crescent, Sylveon asked, "Hey did you hear about Meloetta's upcoming concert?"

"Yes I did," I replied, "I already got two tickets, definitely looking forward to it."

"You plan on taking Taylor?"

"Yeah, I just hope it'll make up for me canceling our date during the Hochkrow Case a few days back."

"I'm sure it will."

I continued with my lunch and left a tip on the table and made my way back to my office.

* * *

><p>It was 7:49 PM at the Lilligant Theatre, only eleven minutes until the concert started. I was sitting in the front secondary rows with Taylor Megantum, my date for tonight. Me and Taylor go way back, during our days in high school, she was always fond of my detective skills, but hated it when it got between spending time together, I even cursed myself for it as well. I always made up for it and she'd always forgive me as well. She also understood that work always came before pleasure, she was a lead reporter for the Daily Gloom, the most popular (and only) newspaper in the city.<p>

While we were waiting for Meloetta to come on stage, me and Taylor decided to have a little conversation. "So how's things at the presses?" I asked.

"Oh the same," she replied, "I haven't really gotten a good story since Madame Muk's arrest. I'm hoping that after the concert I can get an interview with Meloetta, it'd be the highlight of my career."

"Maybe if I join you I can get her autograph," I joked. I knew chances of anyone, even the press, had very little chance of meeting the famous pop star pokèmon in person.

"Fat chance buster," she joked back, "the only way you could get back there is if you were working on a case, and last I checked you were just here to have a good time."

"You got me there," I mused.

Just then the lights dimmed down and the curtains opened to reveal a band consisting of a few Kricketune, Wartortle, Leavanny, and there was a Lilligant standing in the center of the stage.

"Thank you all for coming," she said into the microphone, "now please welcome, miss Meloetta." A light shown to the far side of the stage where Lilligant was pointing, but there was no one there. After a while, she asked one of the Kricketune to see what the hold up was. After a few minutes, the Kricketune came back with a panicked expression on his face.

"S-S-She's gone!"

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><p><em><strong>AN: Thanks for reading you guys. This shall be the first of many detective stories I will be doing in the future. All of them will feature Joe as he cracks many cases. Please Favorite and Review, I will try to post new chapters every Thursday.**_


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"S-S-She's Gone!" said the Kricketune. The crowd immediately went into a panic of gossip. Lilligant directed the Kricketune backstage again, probably to call the police. But just before he did, Lieutenant James Gallade Markson came up on the stage and offered his services. As Lilligant directed him back stage, I decided to get down there myself. I perched myself on the railing getting ready to jump.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Taylor asked.

I looked back at her and gave her a smirk. "Can't let the lieutenant have all the fun now can I?" I turned away and lept off the railing and landed gracefully on the floor. As a Sceptile, I was a natural tree climber and was able to land easily on my feet. I then made my way towards the stage and hopped on and proceeded backstage. There I was confronted by James.

"Well, well, looked what the Meowth dragged in," he joked, "come to hog all the glory?"

"You know it Jamie," I joked back. Me and him go back longer than Taylor, we basically grew up together. Ever since preschool, he and I have been bitter rivals, challenging each other at everything we did. We each had the same interests, we both liked acrobatics and problem solving. The only times we weren't at each others throats was when it came to our love life, I had Taylor and he was with a Gardevoir named Rosaline, the two even got married. But even then and when we both got our respective jobs, we still quarrelled with one another.

"So why were you here?" I asked.

"My daughter's a big fan of Meloetta," he answered, "so me and Rosy decided to take her to her concert. You wouldn't believe how loud she squealed when she heard."

"So that's the strange noise I heard two nights ago," I joked.

He merely chuckled and said, "What about you?"

"Making up for dinner with Taylor," I answered.

"Well since you're here, might as well join me in this investigation," he said, "and yes, I will make sure the commissioner pays you once this is over." He then turned to the Kricketune, "Now tell me exactly what happened."

"Well, once I saw Meloetta wasn't backstage, I went to go check her dressing room," he said, "I knocked on the door a few times but there was no answer, so I opened the door to see the room was a mess and Meloetta was gone."

"Can you take us there?" I asked, the Kricketune nodded and guided us down the hall to an open door. He wasn't kidding, the place was a mess, there were rips in the carpet and wall, the floor was covered in water, flowers, there was makeup all over the counter and the mirror had a huge crack. There was definitely a struggle.

Just then we heard a Gothitelle approaching from behind. "I just heard, is everything alright?" she asked.

"And you are?" Jamie asked.

"Martha Gothitelle, Meloetta's manager," she answered, "is everything alright, is she safe?"

"We haven't found anything yet ma'am, but when we do we'll let you know."

I looked around the room and noticed that while the walls were wrecked, the paintings were still nice and straight, almost untouched by the destruction. I found it a bit odd that the one who caused this mess would go through all the trouble of fixing the paintings, must've been an art fan. Who could blame them, they were very good paintings, all of them of a Kricketune orchestra.

I continued to look around when I saw a folded sheet of paper, I opened it up to reveal a letter made from magazine clippings, probably from the one who caused all this. I read it and it said, "Dear Madame Gothitelle, I have your singing star. Don't worry, she's not dead...yet. If you want to see her back in one piece, please personally deliver $10,000,000 to the the old warehouse on Carnivine Boulevard. Leave the money on the conveyor belt and leave. Do not bring any cops with you or little Meloetta loses more than her voice. You have till the end of the month to comply." Just as I thought, kidnapping.

"Hey Jamie, take a look at this," I said, handing him the ransom note. He scratched his head before handing it to Madame Gothitelle. Once she read it, she began to faint.

Then came the voice of the one and only Taylor Megantum. "What's going on?" she asked. I didn't need to ask her what she was doing here, a pop star getting kidnapped is sure to be front page material.

"This is none of your concern Taylor," Jamie said, "we don't need the entire city to know what's happened here."

"Well half the city already does now," Taylor snapped, "if people don't learn about it from the paper, they'll definitely learn it from regular daily gossip." It was hard to argue with that, word spreads fast around Torch City. I remember when Jamie and Rosy said they were going to get married, five blocks had found out three hours prior.

"Fine, I'll give you what we've got so far," Jamie said, rubbing his eyes. He took her down the hall to discuss what we've already dug up. I turned back to the paintings again, it still seemed odd that they weren't destroyed like the rest of the room.

"Were the paintings like this when you got here?" I asked the Kricketune.

"Yes they were," he answered, "though I do find it a bit odd." That makes two of us.

I looked back at the walls, from how high the marks were, I'd saw out kidnapper was a bug type Pokémon at least three to five feet tall and it knew the move slash. However there were a lot of Pokémon in this town that fit that description, it would be hard to narrow it down to just one.

I looked at the door, it wasn't forced open and the lock wasn't picked, that means that the kidnapper had key. So that could mean that it was either a band or staff member. With the guards outside the back entrance, no one could get in. This was definitely an inside job, but they couldn't have left without one of the guards noticing.

I looked at the powder table and took a whiff, all lovely smells, though there was something about the scent that I thought was a little odd. I felt a little sleepy and also felt a bit stunned. I knew I smelled those scents before, but where?

While I was looking around, a few more Pokémon from the TCPD came and looked around. They were just a few Mightyena, Pigeot, Luxio, and Magnamite. I didn't work with any of them a lot so I didn't know any of their names, but that doesn't matter.

Jamie came back from de-briefing Taylor and asked me, "got anything?"

"Well our kidnapper was about three or four feet tall and bug type," I replied, "and seeing as how the door wasn't forced open, he definitely had a key."

"Let's go talk with the guards outside," said Jamie.

* * *

><p>We went out to where Meloetta came in and talked to the guards. They were both Ursaring and they were both wearing triangle shades.<p>

"No, no one else came in or left after Meloetta and her band came in," one of them said.

"You sure about that?" Jamie asked.

"Definitely," said the other, "we were one hundred percent awakening the whole time."

That proved a problem, this was the only exit from backstage. if the two Ursaring didn't see anyone come in or out, then that meant, "she's still in the building!"

"Everyone search the building," Jamie said on his radio. We joined the others in the search. we looked in every room, closet, anywhere Meloetta could be hidden. We looked everywhere, but nothing.

Just then Jamies radio started buzzing. "We found her," said the cop. We rushed to the callers location and saw Meloetta, her body was laid on the floor of a janitors closet with her arms spread out. I leaned down and gently put my claws on her palm.

"She's alive," I said, "but out cold, it could be days, maybe weeks, before she wakes up."

"I'll call an ambulance," Jamie said as he took out his radio. I looked back at Meloetta, I noticed some powder on her face, I leaned in closer and took a small whiff. The smell got me worried, it was a combination of both Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, when those two mix, it can put anyone, human or pokémon into a coma that could last for weeks. It hit me then that was what I smelled back in Meloetta's dress room, whoever did this must have traced her make-up with it. That left a problem, Slash was a normal type move and Stun Spore and Sleep Powder were grass type moves, no Pokémon could learn all three of those moves. So that left two options; there was an accomplice, or the kidnapped had the powders handy, either way, I knew that our kidnapper might come back for Meloetta once he or she knew we found her, only this time, it would probably be to silence her for good.

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><p><em><strong>AN: So what do you guys think of the story so far? Who do you think is the guilty party? Are you curious enough to follow and favorite the story to find out? Stay tuned next week for the next chapter.**_


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It was 1:06 PM, three days have passed since Meloetta was found and brought to the hospital, the doctors said she wouldn't wake up for at least four weeks, that means I have eighteen days to either find our kidnapper or kidnappers before they got to Meloetta, or wait so Meloetta could tell me who it was. I was going more for option A. Even if she woke up now, Meloetta probably put on the make-up and the kidnapper dragged her off once she passed out. I researched all about Meloetta to see if she had any enemies, nothing. Since the letter was addressed to Madam Gothitelle, I checked if she had any, still nothing. I sat in my office trying find my way out of this dead end. I kept thinking and thinking when I heard the phone on my desk ringing.

"Private eye, Joe Sceptile here," I answered.

"Hey Joe, it's me," it was James.

"Got anything new on the case?" I asked.

"No, some kid came to the office saying he wanted to be a detective. We told him that he was in the wrong place but he wouldn't leave, so I said I knew someone who could help him out so..."

"Don't even think about it!" I yelled into the receiver, I could already tell where this was going. "I work alone, if you think I'm going to play babysitter to some junior detective, you've got another thing coming."

"Well I ran it by the commissioner and he agreed, besides it's kinda too late to decline."

"Why's that?"

"Because we're already half a block away, good luck," and he hung up. Now this was just great, I'm in the middle of a huge case, and now I gotta look after some kid, this day just keeps getting better and better.

It took them five minutes to get here after the call. I saw James with a young Marshtomp, funny thing was it was the same Marshtomp I ran into on the way to the café thee days ago.

"Joe Sceptile," James said, "this is Max Marshtomp."

"Good to see you," I said, trying to be polite.

"Alright, I'll give you two some space," James said headings back towards the door.

"You owe me one for this Jamie," I said before catching a smirk on his face as he left the room. Now the two of us were alone. The kid looked at me with a nervous expression, he probably thought I was still mad at him for our little run in, that or he was worried I would cast him out. I do admit, I wasn't exactly overjoyed that I had to have him watch me do my work, but I have my career on the line. Yeah I was a Private Eye, but it was up to the TCPD to approve my PI lisence, if we weren't, we wouldn't be able to enter crime scenes. In other words, I may not work for the TCPD, but they're still the ones pulling the strings.

The kid was finally about to speak up but I interrupted him. "Look kid," I said in a serious tone, "don't think that just because the commiss' said I had to watch you doesn't mean we're friends. It's nothing personal, but I prefer to work alone." The kid looked down and said nothing as he walked to a chair against the wall, he took it better than I thought he would.

With that out of the way, my mind shifted back to the case. It was clearly obvious that not all of Meloetta's personal information would be revealed to the world, so I needed to get the information from another source, Madam Gothitelle. I got up from my desk and head towards the door, but before I turned the nob I looked back to the kid. His face told me what he was thinking, he was hoping I'd take him with me and at the same time was worried I'd leave him here. Part of me did want to let him stay there, but I was basically stuck with him there was no other option.

"Come on," I said and he jumped out of his chair with a smile on his face.

We arrived at Madam Gothitelle's hotel room at 1:53 PM, she was staying at Hotel Swinub on Ice Street, she was staying in room 509 on the fifth floor. I knocked on the door and Madam Gothitelle was quick to answer the door.

"Mr Sceptile, what a surprise," she exclaimed, "what brings you here?"

"I'm here to ask you a few questions that could help identify the kidnapper," I said.

"And him," she pointed to Max, "is he your partner?"

"Observer," I answered. She gave us a nod and let us in.

"I'm not a suspect am I?"

"No I just need some information on Meloetta's past."

"Like what?"

"Did Meloetta have any rivals or enemies?"

"Not that I know of, in fact I only new Meloetta since the start of her career."

"Are any of the band members know her before then?"

"Well her band is big but it first started with only a Kricketune, two Wartortle, and three Leavanny."

"Could you give me their names and room numbers?"

"I'll write it down." I handed her my notebook and pencil and she wrote down their names and room numbers. I looked at the names once she was finished, John and Mary Wartortle were staying in room 502, Stan Kricketune was in room 512, and Suzy, Lila, and Jasmine Leavanny were in room 506.

"Thank you Madam," I said putting away the note book, "I'll let you know if anything comes up." I got up from my chair and headed towards the door, Max followed suit.

"Um, Madam Gothitelle," said Max as I opened the door, "how much did you have to pay for Meloetta to perform at Liligant Theatre?" I found that an odd question to ask, clearly it cost a lot of money.

"Actually I didn't pay a single dime," said Gothitelle, "me and Lady Liligant are old friends, when she heard I was Meloetta's manager she let us perform there free of charge."

Well that was unexpected, I didn't think anyone could perform at Liligant Theatre for free. What puzzled me more was why the kid asked it, I didn't it was that relivent to the case.

"Thank you," he said before turning back to me and we left the room.

Before we went into Stan's room, I looked to the Marshtomp and asked, "Why'd you ask that question to Madam Gothitelle?"

"Well from what I've learned from the case from the notes you showed me," he said, "I remembered that Liligant can learn Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, so I put Lady Liligant on my own list of suspects. The fact that Lady Liligant had Madam Gothitelle let Meloetta perform without paying anything made me think that she used that to get to Meloetta and kidnap her."

I gave a small smile to the kid, that was some clever thinking and a good theory. "Good thinking kid," I said rubbing his head, "but we don't have a motive for her wanting to do it."

"I never said she was the kidnapper," he said, "I'm just saying she's a likely suspect."

I was starting to like this kid, he was smart and I respected that. I could definitely tell he would make a nice detective, maybe an inspector even. However I was curious how he got to so clever, I'd have to ask him later because right now we had to get more information on Meloetta.

"We'll talk to her later," I said, "right now we need to see the band members."

We walked a fairly short distance to get to Stan's room and I knocked on the door.

_**A/N: What do you guys think, do agree with Max's theory or do you think one of the band members did it? Leave your thoughts in a review and make sure to favorite and follow the story and tune in next Thursday to find out.**_


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